News for and about the Health 2.0 Community

Jen Hyatt, Founder & CEO of Big White Wall gives an insight on how the company came to be and what they’re up to now!

Q: Where did the idea for Big White Wall come from? What does the name represent?

JH: The idea for Big White Wall came from hearing some numbers that shocked me: one in four people will experience a mental health problem in their lives, but the majority of them will not receive treatment. Big White Wall was designed to provide easy access to support and high-quality therapeutic interventions, by using digital technology to make services available 24/7, from home or on the go.

The name Big White Wall comes from:

‘Big’ as human emotion is infinite

‘White’ as we all need an unmediated blank canvas

‘Wall’ as it can provide shelter and support and it is also something we sometimes need to break through

What is Big White Wall?

JH: Big White Wall creates the capacity for an individual to effectively and anonymously tackle mental health and wellbeing issues. It does this by using digital technology to transform the way health care is delivered. BWW’s digital community supports its members to self-manage their care with the collaboration and guidance of 24/7 counsellors (called Wall Guides), clinicians and peers. It offers personalized pathways to support and recovery, with optimization of mental and physical health, through a choice of safe therapeutic services available 24/7 via app, tablet and PC.

What’s the biggest promise that new technology provides patients? What is BWW doing in regards to this?

JH: Technology has improved our ability to control many aspects of our lives, although this has happened more rapidly in some areas than others, such as healthcare, for example, where medical professionals remain firmly in charge requiring us to wait for weeks, often quite passively, for appointments, results and treatment options.

Almost a third of the population seek health advice online whilst, according to a WedMD survey, 40% of patients wanted to use technology to deal with health issues without visiting a doctor’s surgery, while just 17% of doctors were in favor. Clearly, the days of being passive consumers of care are over. We want to be more involved in managing our own health journeys and we want the data to validate our medical and health choices as well as to track our own state of health.

BWW is a mental health solution addressing the changing technology and health needs of society. Members can log on anytime or day from anywhere to get support from a community of peers and professionals, so that they can take control of their mental health and feel better.

What are some of BWW’s results?

JH: BWW has been designated a High Impact Innovation by the NHS in the UK, named the best eHealth solution in the EU in 2014, and is registered with the CQC (Care Quality Commission), England’s independent health and social care regulator:

73% of people report sharing an issue for the first time

95% report improved wellbeing

80% report improved self-care

Savings of £37,000 per 100 members to the UK NHS. (This does not include wider economic impacts, which may include savings to social care departments and reduced requirement for sickness and disability benefits)

You can hear from Big White Wall’s Founder & CEO Jen Hyatt at this week’s Health 2.0 Europe. She will be a panelist on “SHHHH Topics….Overcoming Addictions, Grief, and Stress”. To learn more about Big White Wall visit www.bigwhitewall.com.